The question ‘What is the ‘self? is at the heart of David Rosetzky’s enduring interest in identity. His work considers selfhood not as one stable truth but as many shifting and performative states infuenced by our relationships, experiences, environment and the passing of time. Inevitably, this line of inquiry shows the concept of ‘community’ to be similarly subjective and relational, always evolving and non-homogenous.

Known for highly stylised video and photographic portraits, Rosetzky draws on surrealist techniques of layering and chance, spontaneity and mistakes. His double-exposure photographs juxtapose symbolic and decorative imagery with text to prompt different readings of the human condition. Early video works combine the aesthetics of visual culture, queer theory and pop psychology, in choreographed monologues often exposing the challenges of reconciling ‘identity’ in the face of social expectations and image concerns. Beautiful and poetic works encourage openness and empathy from the audience – towards themselves and to others.

Rosetzky has grown a reputation for developing significant commissions in collaboration with LGBTQIA+ communities; first ‘Being Ourselves’ in the City of Monash (2020), then ‘Air to Atmosphere’ for Castlemaine Art Museum (2023), and now ‘Message Thread’ (2025) in the City of Boroondara. Each project included a creative merging of the casts stores presented in video form alongside a series of photographic portraits.

These vivid accounts of community also illustrate the important role of place in shaping identity, particularly in relation to queerness, visibility and belonging. Highly sensitive to the politics of representation, Rosetzky’s genuinely collaborative approach to working with minority groups aims to convey how they want to be seen and how they see themselves.